13 ms·

The stop-start nature of city busses makes them a real low hanging fruit for battery electrification, benefiting from instant torque to start and regen to stop

The stop-start nature of city busses makes them a real low hanging fruit for battery electrification, benefiting from instant torque to start and regen to stop and, as you say, fixed known routes within larger fleets. The only nation that seems to have capitalised on this basic fact is China which bootstrapped its EV industry on busses, pulling ahead from 2010 and hitting 90% of global market share for EV busses in 2020, and now a big exporter.

busthrowaway23 2y ago
(At least in King County Metro) the newer diesel-electric buses are series hybrids that use electric motors for traction, and diesel generators to power a small battery. So the low hanging fruit of electric traction was already “picked”. You can look up the bus model online - New Flyer XDE class
AnthonyMouse 2y ago
For the same reason the electric mail trucks are a good idea. You can probably expect UPS and FedEx to start replacing their fleets over time as the existing vehicles age out, now that all electric vans are starting to become available.
- adrianN 2y ago
  DHL is already using many electric vans.
- jimnotgym 2y ago
  Where I live a parcel delivery round can be hundreds of miles, so let's not over generalise
  - nine_k 2y ago
    But most deliveries take place in cities and in suburban areas, just because more people live there.
  - 6SixTy 2y ago
    That sounds like a pretty rural area. Your postal office is likely running personal vehicles for mail service.
- nine_k 2y ago
  I'd say 95% of Amazon delivery vehicles I see in NYC are the electric type. Amazon are known to be really concerned with the bottom-line efficiency, so I suppose it must make clear economic sense.
jimnotgym 2y ago
Where I live the buses often come from surrounding towns up to 50 miles away. With the out and back trip we have many many swaps to manage

13 ms·

The stop-start nature of city busses makes them a real low hanging fruit for battery electrification, benefiting from instant torque to start and regen to stop

by ZeroGravitas 2y ago

busthrowaway23 2y ago
(At least in King County Metro) the newer diesel-electric buses are series hybrids that use electric motors for traction, and diesel generators to power a small battery. So the low hanging fruit of electric traction was already “picked”. You can look up the bus model online - New Flyer XDE class
AnthonyMouse 2y ago
For the same reason the electric mail trucks are a good idea. You can probably expect UPS and FedEx to start replacing their fleets over time as the existing vehicles age out, now that all electric vans are starting to become available.
- adrianN 2y ago
  DHL is already using many electric vans.
- jimnotgym 2y ago
  Where I live a parcel delivery round can be hundreds of miles, so let's not over generalise
  - nine_k 2y ago
    But most deliveries take place in cities and in suburban areas, just because more people live there.
  - 6SixTy 2y ago
    That sounds like a pretty rural area. Your postal office is likely running personal vehicles for mail service.
- nine_k 2y ago
  I'd say 95% of Amazon delivery vehicles I see in NYC are the electric type. Amazon are known to be really concerned with the bottom-line efficiency, so I suppose it must make clear economic sense.
jimnotgym 2y ago
Where I live the buses often come from surrounding towns up to 50 miles away. With the out and back trip we have many many swaps to manage